Upgrade: 2 x 8800GTX or 1 GTX 280

Go with the gtx280, and FYI 1.1 pci-e isn't going to "bottleneck" that card.

What resolution do u play at ?In some games that benefit from SLI,2x8800GTX beat GTX 280 in almost every game,but my vote goes for
1 GTX 280 for 3 reasons:

1_SLI doesnt always work well.
2_The price that u said is too much
3_They will be more noisier and consume more power than GTX 280.

u can underclock this card to gtx level performance. =]
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...

i'm not sure it works like that...

im pretty sure if u match the clocks it would be fine.
the ultra is a gtx on steroids.

i like invisiks idea...

thats an amazng price for an 8800 gtx/ ultra....

the 8800 gtx / ultra is about equal to if not better then the 9800 gtx which also shares the 200 $ price point

but the 4850 is better then the 9800 gtx and is about 160 now....

If the 8800gtx ko is in such demand, sell it, and replace it with a gtx280, or 4870X2.

Thanks for the tips. I play mostly in 16X12, unless in a game like crysis, where I take a hit on resolution for some of the bells and whistles. My only concern is the PCI e 2.0 vs. the 1.1 on the 680i. Is the 280 GTX running on 1.1 going to be bottlenecked in the future, when even more graphically intensive games come out? I build a new rig every 2-3 years, so this next intermittent, annoying as hell graphics upgrade decision has to last me a while.

pci-e 1.1 vs 2.0 makes negligible difference today, even with the strongest cards. When the time comes that you can get a video card that is 3x stronger than today's best, you will probably be upgrading the mobo anyway.

No, it won't be bottlenecked

The only time you might see a bottleneck would be in SLI on 1.1 pcie; but otherwise for 1 card it is highly unlikely to make a difference.

It's unlikely pcie1.1 will bottleneck gtx280. Even though gtx280 isn't usually coupled with a old pcie1.1 board, you can still deduce it indirectly. A 9800gx2 is old enough to be often coupled with old pcie1.1, and it didn't bottleneck. 9800gx2 outperforms gtx280 across the board. So why should the lower performing card bottleneck while the higher one does not?  

dagger knows the 9800x2. And it only makes sense. Doesnt a GTX sli setup rule? And at higher res too?

pcie1.1 wont bottleneck a gtx280 or any card out right now. as long as the slot runs at full x16 speed.
how would a gtx280 on a pcie1.1 be a bottleneck in the future? the card has a max amount of bandwidth future games wont change the hardware so i dont see how bandwidth can increase. ex crysis pushes the card to its limit not sure how much more u can push it. =]

OK so first i must note the big error in your first comment that PCI 1.1 as many have said as of right now does not bottleneck any card. in fact it is more important if your motherboard is dual X16 or dual X8 as that is where bottle necking actually starts.

with that out of the way let move on....

so i will give a couple of suggestions with reasons. first, if you don't have to upgrade right now i would wait for one more generation of hardware and get the top of the line for that to replace your 8800GTX instead

if you can't wait and can't find the card(maybe look on eBay) then i would recommend either the 4870X2 or GTX280 i know you have an SLI board but a 4870X2 does beat out a GTX280 in a lot of benchies.

if you can find the card for 300 or less you will probably get more performance out of 2 8800GTXs then 1 GTX280. however, they will take more power and generate more heat.

my overall recommendation would have to be the the GTX280. and don't worry about a bottleneck.

There may be a problem if you add a second gtx280 in the future though. Sli/cf use much more bandwidth than single card since the two cards communicates through the pcie bus (and not so much the bridge, as most people believe).

I just got another superclocked one for about 120$ on ebay and I can tell you I am extremely happy with it. Im going to wait another generation before I do a complete overhaul in the graphics department need a new mobo too as mines not pci 2.0 so i figure the new i7 is as good a time as any to get a new mobo.